Mag Talk Weekly Shonen Jump [2021] - Discussion and ToC Talk

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Weekly Shonen Jump #52 (2021)
Dorondororon (New Series, Cover, Lead Color Pages)
My Hero Academa
One Piece
Witch Watch
Dr. Stone
Protect Me, Shugomaru! (Color Page)
Sakamoto Days
Blue Box
Mission: Yozakura Family (Color Page)
Ayashimon
The Elusive Samurai
Me & Roboco (Color Page)
Magu-chan: God of Destruction
Black Clover
Undead Unluck
PPPPPP
High School Family
Ayakashi Triangle
Mashle

Weekly Shonen Jump #1 (2022) - Information
My Hero Academia (Cover, Lead Color Pages)
Dorondororon (Color Page)
Magu-chan: God of Destruction (Color Page)
Undead Unluck (Color Page)

 

[Phantom RPG]

I just read it. Man this guys need to he in WSJ right now his works are so refreshing and I love the art style and the punk edge to his drawings

Honestly, after seeing his work on Doragagaga(Cannot say anything on Monkey Punch, since sadly I do not know where to find it), I can imagine that the two could potentially lead a series, cause I can definitely see him making a name for himself within Shueisha if he keeps this up. Although am very intrigued by whether or not he will be getting a series soon.

Also, for those that did not find the one-shot I mentioned, here:

Doragagaga

Also, I managed to discover a Brazilian website that analyses all sorts of different magazines in addition to recently starting to analyze one-shots
from Jump Giga, starting with Giga Summer 2020, while also giving some details of whether or not it drew popularity or not.

My apologies for it being in a different language altogether, but I thought to share anyway for those interested in seeing it.

TOC Jump Giga

 

[AbrahamOmosun]

It had everything going for it, and it somehow fell short of its potential. I could give you a list of things that led up to the anime’s release, would you blame viewers for going “that’s it?” after a lackluster opening season?

Yeah a lackluster season 1, that's why it didn't get a seco- oh wait..

You keep on saying that My Hero Academia was destined for some higher ceiling than it has now (though many will say it it is really high enough or even overrated) which (in your mind) got f**ked up by it's season 1 and honestly you could be right , though maybe once in a while, look below it and see how low it could have gotten

At least in some alternate dimension, My Hero Academia got it's perfect adaption, has 60 million copies in circulation and even made Hayao miyazaki and Yoshiyuki Tomino fall in love with modern anime

 

[101nemesis]

JJK was growing before KNY anime even ended. It was always on a trajectory to post big numbers if you tracked its growths VoV.

I get that there can be some fans moving onto other manga/anime with similar themes but the vast majority of the credit for the boost remains with the respective series.

Aside from the general idea of "Demons" or "Curses", there are hardly any similarities between JJK/CSM/TPN/KNY. And the whole demons/curse thing has been around for decades.

If you anything really popularized dark fantasy last decade, it's Attack on Titan.

It had everything going for it, and it somehow fell short of its potential. I could give you a list of things that led up to the anime’s release, would you blame viewers for going “that’s it?” after a lackluster opening season?

The first season being poorly planned is a fact they readily admitted. It’s not that hard to figure it hurt the anime and the entire franchise in some way. I actually got the impression that Nagasaki regretted that they couldn’t prudently plan the first season, leading him to believe the current situation going on.

I agree the first season was rushed but MHA had 2 almost perfect seasons that followed and gave it boosts. It had everything to grow, it just didn't.

 

[CuriousReborn]

It had everything going for it, and it somehow fell short of its potential. I could give you a list of things that led up to the anime’s release, would you blame viewers for going “that’s it?” after a lackluster opening season?

The first season being poorly planned is a fact they readily admitted. It’s not that hard to figure it hurt the anime and the entire franchise in some way. I actually got the impression that Nagasaki regretted that they couldn’t prudently plan the first season, leading him to believe the current situation going on.

You make it sound like MHA is in a bad place or something? The series have 5 seasons and 3 movies. A better animated season 1 wont change the story.

 

[Minsel]

MHA and JJK and KNY are all fine series that recieved different amounts of sales, there's no real way to discuss this without it getting heated

 

[Neala897]

But speaking about JJK... Can I ask here what everyone overall thoughts on it? I am only watching anime and thinks its good but I can not shake the feeling that it strongly lacks... something

 

[Newkerzy]

JJK was growing before KNY anime even ended. It was always on a trajectory to post big numbers if you tracked its growths VoV.


If you anything really popularized dark fantasy last decade, it's Attack on Titan.


I agree the first season was rushed but MHA had 2 almost perfect seasons that followed and gave it boosts. It had everything to grow, it just didn't.

I will confess that I may not ever get over the fact that MHA just barely hit the 1M mark. Like, WHY?!! It’s like it just stopped right front of a wide open goal and for some reason it just stopped. Or tripped. Whichever you pick.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 13, 2021, Original Post Date: Jan 13, 2021 ---

You make it sound like MHA is in a bad place or something? The series have 5 seasons and 3 movies. A better animated season 1 wont change the story.

It’s not a better animated S1 per se. It’s more about the material adapted. Or lack of it.

 

[101nemesis]

But speaking about JJK... Can I ask here what everyone overall thoughts on it? I am only watching anime and thinks its good but I can not shake the feeling that it strongly lacks... something

The anime is a pretty great adaptation of the manga. I think what you feel it lacks is the consistency in it's pacing between events. It can feel disjointed. It just sort of jumps from one thing to another without any real lead up to that event.

Most series have random moments in between (filler arcs if you want to call it that) where characters take a break in fighting/action and the series uses it as a lead up to the next arc/event. JJK just straight up jumps into it. And I think that's one of the reasons why the anime is doing so well because there are no breaks in between.

 

[Xzone]

Yeah a lackluster season 1, that's why it didn't get a seco- oh wait.

How having a second season invalidate the problem about season 1?
Is like saying that World trigger first season wasn't a lackluster because the anime returned lol.

 

[AbrahamOmosun]

How having a second season invalidate the problem about season 1?
Is like saying that World trigger first season wasn't a lackluster because the anime returned lol.

Yeah my bad. Was meant to be a joke

 

[Neala897]

The anime is a pretty great adaptation of the manga. I think what you feel it lacks is the consistency in it's pacing between events. It can feel disjointed. It just sort of jumps from one thing to another without any real lead up to that event.

Most series have random moments in between (filler arcs if you want to call it that) where characters take a break in fighting/action and the series uses it as a lead up to the next arc/event. JJK just straight up jumps into it. And I think that's one of the reasons why the anime is doing so well because there are no breaks in between.

I am afraid its deeper. One thing I probably dont like is how Gege practically just took team 7 premise without really changing it. Is it really okay so obviously making your spin on well known characters?

 

[DreamcastDazia]

Honestly, after seeing his work on Doragagaga(Cannot say anything on Monkey Punch, since sadly I do not know where to find it), I can imagine that the two could potentially lead a series, cause I can definitely see him making a name for himself within Shueisha if he keeps this up. Although am very intrigued by whether or not he will be getting a series soon.

Also, for those that did not find the one-shot I mentioned, here:

Doragagaga

Also, I managed to discover a Brazilian website that analyses all sorts of different magazines in addition to recently starting to analyze one-shots
from Jump Giga, starting with Giga Summer 2020, while also giving some details of whether or not it drew popularity or not.

My apologies for it being in a different language altogether, but I thought to share anyway for those interested in seeing it.

TOC Jump Giga

I read monkey pink cause someone out it in one of the older WSJ discussions threads. Its good

 

[savethecat]

i don't think MHA necessarily had a higher ceiling. It's possible, but there's nothing that suggests this.

If i had to guess i would say its simply just due to trends and what resonates in Japan.

Right now in Japan dark fantasy is the big thing. with Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, Neverland, Jujutsu Kaisen, Tokyo Ghoul, Re:Zero, etc. being some the biggest explosions. the two biggest series that suddenly started breaking records in the last decade, Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer, both being dark and gruesome series.

thats not to say EVERY big new series is a dark fantasy. Spy X Family, for example. But it seems as though overall thats the trend, and MHA doesn't fall into that. But its still a major pillar nonetheless.

On the other hand MHA is much more successful in the west in comparison to Demon Slayer, Neverland, JJK, etc(Or North America at the very least). In Western countries the big thing at the moment is super hero stories which dominated movie theaters and television for well over a decade now. And super heroes has been a major part of North American culture for nearly a century. So a competently written super hero manga has a much better chance at exploding than a series about people killing demons with samurai swords, as it resonates more with a north american audience (Sadly North Americans are not as big on actually buying their manga like people in japan, So its not as well reflected in sales like Demon Slayer is in Japan)

TLDR; it's just a matter of right place, right time

 

[Koni]

Can we just all agree that these manga are successful, at least? This comes from a person who wished HeroAca was more successful in the face of series exploding recently. Like, in the grand scheme of manga sales, even now there’s very few ongoing manga that can even compete with HeroAca, JJK, or KNY. They’re all major franchises that are successful and will no doubt leave an impact and legacy down the line. I don’t think Jump cares about which franchise is more successful because they own all three, so I don’t think this really matters all that much.

 

[4Eyes]

ToC when? Some spoilers are already out for hours now so I wonder if the ToC guy was caught again...

 

[Ryuusei]

Reprints - 1/13

Straight to bookstores

2/18 - Kimetsu no Yaiba 1~12
2/19 - Kimetsu no Yaiba 13~23

Bookstores and warehouses

2/2 Kimetsu no Yaiba TV Anime Character Book 1, 2, 3

 

[Halloween]

ToC when? Some spoilers are already out for hours now so I wonder if the ToC guy was caught again...

We don’t know when. We never do. We just assume they’ll be posted at the normal time.

 

[Minsel]

Reprints - 1/13

Straight to bookstores

2/18 - Kimetsu no Yaiba 1~12
2/19 - Kimetsu no Yaiba 13~23

Bookstores and warehouses

2/2 Kimetsu no Yaiba TV Anime Character Book 1, 2, 3

well get ready for another 4-5 months of KNY in top 50

 

[yadayada]

I really don't know why JJK is being used as an example to support this when even if it was 1 cour only and the anime stopped here it would still handily smash MHA's boost across all of its seasons combined.
MHA got a primetime slot on a fantastic time (getting the Conan boost) and a top tier studio adapting it yet somehow it was "mismanaged".

Playing what ifs is completely pointless and a waste of time that could be done the other way around too.

Let's assume they go your route and wait.
MHA's momentum slowed down tremendously after volume 3 despite its great start, After volume 5 its sales had completely flatlined and even started decreasing before the anime released.

What if waiting another year like you wanted them to kills off the hype for it and causes the anime to do worse than it did as its sales keep dropping in the meantime?

And note that this isn't me saying that it would've certainly gone this way, it's me saying to stop arguing in a fantasy parallel reality where things play out exactly as you wish them to and no other factor exists, and simply accept that MHA, while still being an extremely successful series among the best sellers of its generation, didn't quite cater to the japanese audiences the way other series have and failed to reach their heights. There is absolutely no shame in that.

This isn't to say MHA is bad. But its setting, themes and so on are certainly more catered to the western audience than to Japan's tastes. Just remember that Avengers IW and Endgame, movies that took #1 in pretty much every country they released on...lost to Conan movies in Japan.

tl;dr stop arguing what ifs that can neither be proved nor disproved just based on your wishes. It doesn't lead anywhere.

 

[ItsSamu]

But speaking about JJK... Can I ask here what everyone overall thoughts on it? I am only watching anime and thinks its good but I can not shake the feeling that it strongly lacks... something

Jujutsu Kaisen reads a lot like Bleach to me, except if Kubo never grew as an artist and polished his style like he did. It's like if Bleach was forever drawn in the style of the Substitute Shinigami arc. Most of the time it is fantastically drawn, especially the action which always has a sense of impact, and there's a good few characters that are great fun to read. It's very rarely boring.

On the other hand, the art can often feel chaotic to the point of incomprehension. I'd say it's also very poorly panelled. I can go from one panel to the next and the flow feels jarring or the dialogue doesn't read correctly, or the expressions of characters or the change of scene doesn't feel right or smooth. It also has a habit of starting inner monologues before we know who is even speaking, revealing it too late to register the impact of what's being said. It has issues I don't have with any other WSJ series except for Our Blood Oath and other similar early cancelled series by new mangaka still honing their craft. I'd also say it's badly paced, jumping from scenes and even arcs without a hint of transition. One particular flashback started randomly in a chapter after something completely unrelated ended in the previous and for about three chapters I was throughly lost and didn't understand why it was happening.

I also don't really understand the power system and find the abilities vastly different in a way that feels confusing rather than part of the world (unlike, say, the range of One Piece's devil fruits). It often feels like a lot of dialogue or exposition on blank panels to over-explain some flashy cool technique. I just want to see its fights (which are maybe the best to read in the current Jump roster), not read the convoluted footnotes of a characters' bizarre powers.

I can be quite harsh on it week-by-week sometimes when it strays from pure-action chapters, but it'd say it's somewhere around the middle of the magazine for me in terms of preference. I wish I loved it because I love Bleach and it gives the same energy and vibe in a lot of ways but I agree with you that something just feels missing and it has too many elements that make it often difficult to read. I'm not following the anime but I expected that might tighten it up and deliver something more polished.

All that being said I'm happy for Gege and all the fans who get to relish its boom in real-time!